Fish cleaning and cutting machine



April 22, 1941. c, PALMER ETAL 2,239,013

FISH CLEANING AND CUTTING MACHINE Original Filed Feb. 20, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 April 22, 1941. C. P. PALMER r FISH CLEANING AND CUTTING MACHINE Original Filed Feb. 20, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 U 1 W w? April 22, 1941. c PALMER ETAL 2,239,013

FISH CLEANING AND CUTTING MACHINE Original Filed Feb. 20 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 game/whom gar. rper I v A abbqmwng Patented Apr. 22, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FISH CLEANING AND CUTTING MACHINE Charles P. Palmer and Arthur L. Palmer, Kilmarnock, Va.

9 Claims.

This invention relates to a fish cutting, slitting, cleaning, washing and splitting machine. An object of the invention is to eliminate the usual slow and tedious manual labor necessary in handling fish by providing a machine upon which any one or more of the above mentioned operations may be performed at the will of the operator.

The machine is designed to receive the fish, cut off the heads and tails and then to pass through the several cleaning operations including slitting, cleaning the interior of the fish, washing the same and splitting it for fiat packing if this is desired. Throughout the several operations performed onthe fish such as slitting and cleaning, water is supplied for. washing purposes. This application is a substitute for our application No. 594,260 filed February 20, 1932.

Referring to the drawings, which are made a part of this application and in which similar A reference characters indicate similar parts:

Fig. 1 is an assembled side elevation of the machine with certain parts of the frame broken away to more clearly show the operating mechamsm,

Fig. 2 is a view in end elevation showing certain of the operating mechanisms,

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the machine in assembled relation,

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view, partly in section, of the reel which feeds the fish into the cleaning machine, and of the clamp mechanism for holding the fish in position during the several operations referred to, and

Fig. 5 is a detail view of a guide for conducting the body of the fish to the slitting wheel.

In the drawings the main frame of the machine which is built of wood or which may be of structural steel or cast iron is indicated at l. 2 is a carrier wheel or disk located centrally of the machine and mounted on a shaft 3 rotatably mounted in journals 4 which are adjustably mounted on the main frame I. The disk 2 as shown is ,made of a central wood disk with steel plate disks 5 bolted or riveted thereto to which are applied hub portions 6-6 for attachment to the shaft 3. This wheel 2 may be made of cast iron and the hub portions either attached thereto or made integral therewith. A worm wheel 1 is located on one end of the shaft 3 and is in mesh with a warm. 8 on a shaft 9 which is mounted in bearings l and is driven by pulley II. This pulley ll serves to transmit power for driving the carrier wheel or disk 2 and through appropriate belt and gear connections drives all of the other moving parts of the machine including the reel and the various cutting and brushing elements.

On the end of shaft 9 opposite the pulley l I is mounted a miter gear I2 meshing with a like miter gear 13 mounted on shaft I4 which transmits motion to the rotary slitting disk l through the sprocket chain drive IS. The disk I5 is mounted on a shaft l1 suitably journaled in the frame and, carrying a sprocket I8 upon which the belt l6 operates.

On shaft 9 beyond the miter gear I2 is fixed a sprocket carrying a chain I9 which drives the shaft 29 mounted in bearings 2| and which shaft carries the spaced cutting disks 22. These disks are adjustably spaced along shaft a suitable distance apart to operate on the particular size of fish which are to be handled by the machine.

On shaft 3 is mounted a sprocket wheel 23 which, through chain belt 24, drives sprocket wheel'25 mounted on shaft 26 journaled at 21. Mounted on shaft is a miter gear 29 meshing with a corresponding miter 29 mounted on shaft 30 journaled at 3|. On shaft 39 there is mounted a reel 32 provided with radial arms or leaves 33 between which the fish are placed to be fed into the machine. It will be noted that the reel 32 is located directly above the disk 2 and in position so that the fish when released by the reel will drop down by gravity into the clamps carried by the disk 2, though it is within the contemplation of our invention to use positive means for feeding fish out of the reel and into the clamps (hereinafter disclosed). It will also be noted that the disks 22 which are for cutting off the heads and tails of the fish are located immediately adjacent the ends of the reel and rotate in planes at right angles to that of the reel. A guard plate 34 is provided adjacent the reel 32 and at one side thereof in order to guide the fish as they pass out of the reel into the clamps carried by the, disk 2, and an opposed guard plate 34' cooperates therewith. Mounted on shaft 3 is a sprocket driving a chain 39 which through another sprocket drives shaft 49 journaled at 4|. Centrally mounted on shaft 49 is a rotary circular brush 42. Also mounted on shaft 40 is a sprocket which, through chain 35, drives a shaft 35. Centrally mounted on the shaft is a slitting disk 38. It will be obvious that the circular knife 15 and the rotary brush 42 both rotate in the same plane and also in the plane of rotation of the carrier wheel 2. The object of this arrangement is obvious in view of the On the opposite side of the disk is a pivoted clamping jaw 45 pivoted at 41 on a plate 48 at tached to the side plate 5 of the disk 2. apparent that the element 46 of the clamp cantbe moved about its pivot point 41 by means of the arm 56 and the cam surface 5l'which is fixed to the frame of the machine. cuate in shape and of uniform width and is :at-

fish passes down past the guide plates 34 and 34' and is deposited in one of the carrier clamps on the wheel 2. The movement of the wheel 2 and the reel 32 are so synchronized that a carrier clamp will always be immediately under the reel at the time the reel releases a fish so that it may drop directly into the clamp. Immediately after receiving the fish the carrier clamp arm 5|] passes from under the cam 5| and the clamp is closed by the spring 52 and the fish body is held securely between the clamping jaws 44 and 46.

The carrier then passes by the guide 53, which presents it to the wheel l5 which slits the fish V initially. Then the scraper 54 cleans the fish,

The cam 5| is arremoving the roe and intestines and directing them'into'j an appropriate channel to be conveyed away. Such channel consists preferably of a I trough flushed with water in which the roe is tached to the frame of the machine in a plane parallel to the disk 2 and is so located with respect to the disk 2 that on rotation of the disk the arms 53 of the clamps will contact the side of the cam 5i to open each clamp as it approaches the reel 22 until the clamps are in position to receive the fish, whereupon the arm 50 runs off the end of the cam 5| and the spring 52 forces the clamping element 46 to hold the fish against thecomplementary clamping element 44. The complementary inner faces of the elements 44 and are so shaped as to correspond generally to the shape of a fish, the larger part of the opening between the clamps being at the right of the uppermost clamp in Fig. 1 in which figure the carrier 2 is rotated clockwise so that the fish in the clamp may be brought into position to be operated on by the knife I5, the brush 42 and the knife 38 in succession. It will be noted that when a clamp reaches the lowest position of the carrier wheel in its rotation the arm of the clamp will engage the cam 5|, whereupon the clamp will be opened and will permitthe fish to drop out. The clamp will remain open until it has arrived at the top of the wheel under the reel and has received a fish from which the head and tail have been cut, whereupon-the clamp passes the end of the cam 5| and the fish is securely clamped in position. Preferably the clamps are perforated as at 46 or are otherwise roughened so as to hold a fish body securely.

An inverted V-shaped guide 53, slotted along its Vertex, is carried by the frame of the machine and is located so as to engage the sides of a fish body held between a pair of clamping elements 44 and 46 so as to ensure that the first slitting wheelwill out said body open along its middle.

Below the slitting wheel 15 there is a roe scraper 54 pivoted at 55 and held by a spring 56 in position such that its V-shaped inner end (Fig. 2) will engage the inside of a fish'body on wheel 2 and will scrape it clean. This scraper cleans and scrapes the interior of the fish after it has been slit by the knife l5. A counter device 51 is located to the left of the brush 42 and in such position with relation to the clamp that each fish body will actuate it and the number of fish handled may be readily registered thereby.

In operation the whole fish are fed by hand singly into the pockets of the revolving feeder reel 32 which carries them over into contact with the circular knives 22 which remove the head and tail. The heads and tails are directed by a suitably located chute (not shown) into a receptacle or conveyor. After the head and tail are cut off the fish, on continued movement of the reel the separated from the intestines and taken to the packing department. The fish then passes the circular brush 42 which with the help of a stream of water'thoroughly'washes' and cleanses themside of the fish, such cleansing including the breaking down and removing of the bloody line along the backbone. The fish then passes by the counter and engages a movable part thereof so the wheel directly under the reel. From there on the clamps are closed to hold the fish securely during the several operations performed thereon until the bottom of the wheel is reached, where each successive clamp is opened and the fish permitted to drop out.

It will be seen from the above discussion when considered in connection with the drawings that a machine has been devised which performs all of the necessary operations in cutting off the heads and tails of fish, slitting, scraping and cleaning the same under proper conditions'and depositing the finished product at a suitable point for removal to a packing station. Of course after the slitting operation the necessary amount of water is supplied to the device for flushing and cleaning the fish' as has been indicated above. By the use of this machine the number of hand operations necessary to handle a large quantity of fish is materially reduced since the only manual operation necessary is to deposit the fish in Having thus fully described our said invention,

what we claim as new Letters Patent is:

1. In a fish cleaning machine,in combination,

and desire to secure for a carrier wheel having apl'urality of fish clamps on the periphery thereof, a fish feeding reel lo-' cated above said wheel, a pair of circular cutting knives located adjacent the ends of said reel, a guide plate for directing the fish from said reel into said clamps, a circular slitting knife located adjacent the periphery of said wheel to slit the fish held by said clamps as they pass said slitting knife, and means to open said clamps.

2. A fish cleaning machine comprising a main frame, a carrier wheel mounted therein for rotation on a horizontal axis, a plurality of fish clamps mounted on the outer periphery of said wheel, said clamps comprising two elements, one stationary with respect to said wheel and the other pivotally mounted thereon, a cam mounted on said frame and controlling the movements of the pivoted elements of said clamps, said clamping elements being shaped to conform to the shape of the body portion of the fish to be operated on and hold the same longitudinally in the plane of the wheel, a feeding reel on said frame above said Wheel, said reel being mounted for rotation on an axis lying in the plane of said wheel and having single fish compartments from which single fish may be fed successively into the fish clamps, and a plurality of slitting and cleaning devices carried by said frame adjacent the periphery of said wheel.

3. A fish cleaning machine comprising a main frame, a carrier disk mounted therein for rotation in a vertical plane, a fish feeding reel mounted in said frame above said disk to rotate on a horizontal axis at right angles to the axis of said disk, a pair of circular cutting knives adjacent the ends of said reel to cut off the heads and tails of fish being fed by said reel, a plurality of clamps mounted on the periphery of said disk in position to receive fish from said reel as said clamps pass thereunder, a plurality of rotary fish slitting and cleaning devices mounted adjacent the periphery of the disk and a single driving means for said disk, reel, knives and cleaning devices.

4. A fish cleaning machine, comprising a main frame, a carrier disk directly mounted therein for rotation in a vertical plane, a plurality of fish clamps mounted on the periphery of said disk, means carried by said frame for controlling the operation of said clamps, a feeding reel mounted above said disk for rotation on an axis at right angles to that of said disk, a plurality of circular knives located adjacent the ends of said reel and a plurality of slitting and cleaning devices mounted on said frame adjacent the periphery of said disk for rotation in the plane of said disk.

5. A fish cleaning machine comprisin a main frame, a carrier disk directly mounted therein for rotation in a vertical plane, a plurality of clamps mounted on the periphery of said disk, a feeding reel located above said disk, a plurality of circular knives mounted for rotation adjacent the ends of said reel, guiding means between said knives in position to guide the fish into the clamps on said disk, a plurality of slitting and cleaning devices located adjacent the periphery of said disk and in the plane thereof, and a common driving means for operating all of said devices.

6. A fish cleaning machine comprising a frame, a carrier disk directly mounted therein for rotation in a vertical plane, a feeding reel having a plurality of single-fish compartments and located above said disk, said reel being mounted for rotation on an axis perpendicular to that of said disk, a plurality of equally spaced clamps mounted on the outer periphery of said disk, said clamps being located in the plane of said disk, and means for driving said disk and said reel in synchronism whereby said reel compartments in their lowest position will synchronize with the clamps carried by said disk, whereby single fish may be fed from said reel to said clamps.

'7. A fish cleaning machine comprising a frame, a carrier disk mounted therein for rotation in a vertical plane, a plurality of clamps mounted on the periphery of and in the plane of said disk, said clamps each comprising a fixed and a movable element, a semicircular cam mounted on said frame and in position to control the operation of the movable elements of the clamps and a reel mounted above said disk and rotating in a plane at right angles to the plane of the disk and driven synchronously with said disk for feeding fish into said clamps.

8. A fish cleaning machine comprising a frame, a carrier disk mounted therein for rotation in a vertical plane, a plurality of clamps mounted on the periphery of said disk, a cam mounted on said frame to control the opening and closing movements of said clamps, a feeding reel mounted above said disk and in position to feed fish into said clamps, a pair of circular knives adjacent the ends of said reel to cut off the heads and tails of the fish fed thereby, and a first slitting knife, a roe scraper, a cleaning brush and a second slitting knife, said four last-named parts being located adjacent the periphery of said disk and in the plane thereof and in position to operate upon fish carried by said clamps, said cam being so located as to release the clamps at the top of the disk and to open the clamps at the bottom of the disk to release the fish.

9. In a fish cleaning machine, a carrier wheel having devices spaced about its periphery for holding individual fish, a fish feeding reel above said wheel, means operative to cut oil the heads and tails of fish carried by said reel, means between said reel and said wheel for guiding a fish from said reel to a holding device on said wheel, a slitting device located so. as to slit a fish body held on said wheel as said body passes said slitting device and means positioned to guide said fish body so as to cause said body to be slitted along the middle of its belly.

CHARLES P. PALMER. ARTHUR. L. PALMER. 

